Ever since Elgin Baylor raped the Bulls in that trade for Elton Brand, I was actually optimistic about him being the Clippers GM and I knew it would be a matter of years before the Clippers would make their turnaround.

2003

Drafted Chris Kaman

Signed Mike Dunleavy

Elton Brand - 6years/80 million... Well deserved compared to the money other players get
Corey Maggette - 6 years/42 million... same with Elton Brand
Made an attempt at Gilbert Arenas for 60 million dollars. Would have been nice, but 3 20 point scorers in one team is too much IMO

Although, they lost Andre Miller, Michael Olowokandi, and Lamar Odom.

With the offers they got from other teams, thank God the Clippers didn't match. Miller with 60 million. Lamar with 60 million. Olowokandi was on a crack pipe the season before when he turned down a 60 million offer by the Clippers. He signs with the T Wolves the season after for not even half of that money. What a retard

2004

Drafted Shaun Livingston

Offered Kobe Bryant 105 million dollars, but that bastard waited till around July or Augast to make his dicision, thus losing out on other freeagents like Steve Nash, and they lost a fan favorite, Q Rich, because Elgin and Dunleavy actually believed Kobe would be a Clipper. Ever since Shaq was traded to the Heat, the Clippers should have immediately dropped out of the Kobe Bryant sweapstakes. If Shaq stayed with the Clippers, it would have been a different ball game. Shaq would be a Laker and Kobe would be a Clipper.

Fortunately, Bobby Simmons was able to fill in for he loss of Quentin Richardson

They also found a hidden Gem in Quinton Ross

2005(the difference making off-season)

Signed Mobley to 5 years, 42 million dollars
Traded Jaric and Chalmers for Cassell. The Wolves now are sick and tired of Jaric. He's a backup 2 guard, but he thinks he should be the starting point guard. He sucks at playing the point. He can't play the point even if the players on the other team are blind and deaf. And the Clippers get back someone that completely changes the whole mindset of the Clippers. For the first time in 7 years, Elton Brand found out how to win.

2006

They found a backup center in the second round in Paul Davis and hopefully a nice energy Barbosa type player in G Diaz

Re-signing Sam Cassell for 2 years, 13 million dollars

Signing Tim Thomas for 4 years, 24 million dollars as a replacement for Vladimer Radmanovic

Reggie Evans is considering the Clippers (small article on Realgm) after falling in love with Chris Kaman. With jokes put a side, Reggie Evans brings hustle and rebounding. Chris Kaman won't like it but if the Clippers get a hold of Reggie Evans, that's another positive. I'm sure if Evans ends up playing on the same team, Kaman will have to put everything behind him. I just would wait till I got home or the hotel before I take a shower if I were Kaman. I'm not counting on this move though. Not getting Reggie Evans will be like not having the sprinkles on the cake. You get him, cool, you don't get him, cool.

Hell freezes over when of all people, Elgin Baylor is announced GM of the year. It's still hard to believe that Baylor was the 2005-06 GM of the year. It was definitely a good day for us Clipper fans. Especially when my Laker fan friends would make fun of me for being a Clipper fan and would tell me that it will be the end of the world before Elgin Baylor wins GM of the year. After the Lakers 3rd championship, I even remember someone telling me that there's a better chance that Shaq would be traded in a few years than Elgin Baylor has to being GM of the year.

I've been optimistic about the Clippers organization, which was pretty tough to do.

And when you think about it, the moves that the Organization did since the 2000 off-season weren't necessarily bad moves.

Darius Miles was drafted too high, but he still was a fan favorite in his 2 seasons with the Clippers. I still believe he would have flourished if he stayed with the Clippers.

Getting Q at #18 was really nice.

The Clippers definitely got the best end of the deal when trading for Maggette. I don't remember what that draft pick the Clippers traded for Maggs turned into.

The Elton Brand trade was a no-brainer. I don't know why Jerry Krause chose an unproven HS player over a 2 year player that averaged 20/10 in each of his 2 seasons. It's still hard to believe that the Bulls traded a frontline of Brad Miller, Elton Brand, and Ron Artest for Tyson Chandler, Brian Skinner, and Jalen Rose

But one thing that people should know is that Mike Dunleavy had a lot to do with the Clippers success. Unlike coaches in the past like Alvin Gentry, Mike Dunleavy actually does his job in the summer time, makes demands and is always standing right next to Donald and Elgin when making moves. Mike Dunleavy demanded Sterling to keep Brand and Maggette. Dunleavy demanded the Clippers to fight tooth and nail to get Kobe on the team. Dunleavy wanted Chris Kaman and Shaun Livingston drafted. Mike Dunleavy took time out of his own hands in 04, went to Belgum, just to invite Quinton Ross to training camp. Mike Dunleavy made sure that the Clippers re-signed Bobby Simmons and if they lost him, they would find a replacement, which became Cuttino Mobley. Mike Dunleavy was sick and tired of Marko Jaric, but didn't want to lose him for nothing so he demanded for the Clippers to trade Marko Jaric for a true pointguard... That's where Sam Cassell comes in. In the middle of the season, Mike Dunleavy was completely fed up with Chris Wilcox's lack of defense, rebounding and work ethic(he might have showed that in Seattle, but he showed none of that with the Clippers) so he made sure Wilcox was traded and they got one of the best 3 point shooters in the league in Radmanovic. And after finding out he lost Radmanovic to the Lakers, he made sure that the Clippers would do something about that, and now Tim Thomas is the newist Clipper. Mike Dunleavy also made sure that Sam Cassell wouldn't go no where. And look what happened, Cassell will remain a Clipper for the next 2 seasons.

The Clippers have one of the BEST organizations in the league... mainly because of Mike Dunleavy. He doesn't let Elgin make stupid moves and he makes sure the vault that he leaves his money in is unlocked.

When I think of it, Mike Dunleavy should have been GM of the year. He pretty much pushed Elgin aside and did the moves himself.

Only thing I'm worried about is whenever Mike Dunleavy leaves the Clippers, will the management continue to make moves in benefit of the team? That's why I hope Sam Cassell becomes the head coach by the time Mike Dunleavy leaves. He reminds me a lot of Mike Dunleavy because of his assertiveness.

I atleast hope that Mike Dunleavy retires from coaching and moves to the Clippers front office and Sam Cassell becomes the head coach.